The No. 1 Reason Why Your Brand Style Isn't Working

photo credit: Mike Sung Photography | creative direction & styling by us

This is the most common question we get -

“How do I find my brand style?”

If you’ve been having the same question, you’re in luck!

After having coached many businesses on building a strong brand and having produced numerous brand photoshoots, I’m finally spilling the beans and sharing our secret sauce today!

First of all, you should know that brand style is part of the last element of a complete brand strategy, which we share with our coaching students (learn more about the 7 elements of brand strategy HERE). Brand style and brand voice together constitute the 7th brand element, Your Brand Personality.

The biggest secret to determining a strong and attractive brand personality is FEELINGS.

Branding is the process of creating an experience for people to build an emotional connection so that they can distinguish you from everyone else. It all comes back to emotional connection, the feelings you want people to feel with your brand.

When you’re figuring out your brand style, you should have already clearly defined your purpose, mission, target audience, and your differentiation. At this point, you should have a very good idea on what feelings you want to evoke. (If you haven’t gone through the complete brand strategy exercise, learn why you need to complete this critical step now!)

Here’s our 2-step process that works EVERY single time:

Step 1:

List out the 3 to 5 feelings you want people to feel with your brand.

Step 2:

Based on these adjectives that describe feelings, come up with the 3 to 5 adjectives that describe aesthetics and that evoke the feelings you jot down in Step 1.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It’s really crucial that you understand and separate the adjectives into those that describe feelings, and those that describe aesthetics.

This 2-step reverse engineering makes all the difference. You know those pretty brand designs that are beautiful and make a great first impression? The problem is, without a strategy, pretty doesn’t grow businesses.

Because the brand feelings are determined after already knowing your mission, target audience, and the transformation you’re taking them to through your services or products, finding your brand style is a strategic process. With this 2-step approach, you can define a brand style that is effective and that adds true value to your business.

Remember, most brand graphic designers out there focus on what YOU like as an individual, and they create graphics that match what you personally like. However, this IS NOT ABOUT YOU! This is a business created to serve your people. It’s about them and how you can best serve them.

You may think, “Can I be sure that this is will be a style I like as well?”

Yes, without a doubt! Because before you come up with your brand feelings, you’ve found your purpose, your personal calling, and tied it all together in your mission and positioning (again, that’s why the 7 Brand Elements are so crucial, and all 7 elements should be drawn from you). So, the feelings you want to evoke and the brand style you come up with will be closely tied to you, on a personal level.

Phew! That goes that secret!

It worked for literally every one of our students and clients. So, give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Don’t forget to grab your seat at our FREE training, so you know how to grow your profitable brand people love AND a loyal customer community who keep buying from you!